Demon hunters are perpetually at war with themselves. They hold no hope for a return to their former lives, but they fight and stalk demons with a passion. Those hunters who live to train others become deliberate and cautious and, yet, their impulses scream to meet demonic violence with more violence.
Every arrow that demon hunters launch is dipped in spite; nearly all of their attacks are delivered with Hatred, a cold, righteous anger that renders them utterly merciless to their enemies. Their Hatred is nearly endless; it recovers quickly, as, even at rest, demon hunters are filled with the desire for vengeance.
Those hunters who would hope to make any sort of true impact must temper their Hatred with a second resource: Discipline, the caution and care that ensures they live to kill another day.
Discipline is precious to demon hunters. Not only does it return slowly, requiring more reflection and patience than their Hatred-based attacks, but they must rely on it for every defensive maneuver – trapping enemies in place, vaulting out of the way of teeth and claws, and dodging hails of spines and arrows.
It is a simple matter for demon hunters to stand in place, icy with Hatred, and send a volley of projectiles at the hordes of their enemies. But, when they fail to defend themselves with Discipline, hunters leave themselves able to be slaughtered. A careful balance of Discipline and Hatred is the most likely way hunters ensure their survival.
Demon hunters are relentless vigilantes who execute their infernal targets with an arsenal of ranged weapons. They crouch and take aim far from danger, relying on bows, deadly traps, and projectiles to swiftly bring an end to the creatures that haunt their world.
With sweeping blasts of shot, wide salvos of arrows and timed explosives at their disposal, demon hunters excel at devastating groups of foes who cluster together. Hunters’ pinpoint accuracy also allows them to deal with stronger monsters at a distance: they can snipe at key targets or fall back while snapping off kill shots at advancing foes.
However, demon hunters’ focus on ranged combat and limited melee-weapons training leave them in danger when they’re cornered or surrounded. Evasive skills like defensive rolls and jumps, as well as targeted attacks that hamstring and slow enemies, are as crucial to survival as any arrow in a hunter’s quiver.
Those who call themselves demon hunters are not a people or a nation. They owe allegiance to no king. They are but a remnant – an echo – of those who’ve lost their lives to hellspawn. When their homes are burnt and their families butchered by demons, most newly scarred refugees give up on living – but a few bury their dead, band together, and swear vengeance.
Though they are small in number, hunters track and corner demons in the hopes that, if they can save even one life, their world will be better for it. At the end of a day’s hunt, most still close their eyes and have nightmares in which they see the horrors that brought them together: gore-caked claws, and men and women drowning in their own blood.
Awake, demon hunters see much the same. But, now, in the present, they finally have the power to retaliate.
They dare not dream of victory, or, even less likely, peace. And yet, they hunt. They can do nothing else.
Demon hunters train to hold back the darkness with unconventional combinations of weaponry and fighting styles that only they can employ. They are masters of the hand crossbow – quick-reloading, fast-firing ranged weapons that they use to turn demons into their temporary quivers. Demon hunters are so adept in the hand crossbow’s use that they can dual wield them; two crossbows fired together doubles the arrows in the air and the speed at which hunters’ enemies die.